Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood
February 22, 1864

The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer
February 23, 1864

WASHINGTON’S BIRTH-DAY

Yesterday being the birth-day of George Washington, the booming of cannon was heard in the early party of the day, and from many houses the flag of the country was flung to the breeze. The streets were filled with people and the city presented a very gay and attractive appearance. The First West Virginia Infantry, preceded by the excellent Band attached to that corps, paraded through the principal streets of the city, exciting great admiration and demonstrations of welcome wherever they went. When the regiment returned to the Atheneum after the parade there must have been three or four thousand men, women and children standing about in front of the Custom House, to say nothing of the crowds that were loitering along the sidewalks and standing upon the corners in various parts of the city.

The Wheeling Daily Register
February 23, 1864

YESTERDAY, the anniversary of the birth of WASHINGTON, was observed in our city by the display of flags, the reading of his Farewell Address at the Capitol, the suspension of our schools, a parade by some of the military &c. We are glad to believe that the memory of WASHINGTON still lingers, with love and veneration, in the hearts of the great mass of American people. They do not feel in their souls to hate the Constitution, of whose framers he was President, as “a covenant with death,” or despise that Union over which he was the Chief Magistrate, as “a league with hell.” The time will come when the memory of WASHINGTON and his compeers, and the recollection of their glorious achievements, will revive in the hearts of thousands who have been led astray by the fanaticism and madness of the hour, an ardent desire for the return of the Union, prosperity and happiness we once enjoyed, and a stern determination that these inestimable blessings shall be ours. Factious leaders may triumph for a season, but the spirit that glowed in the bosom of WASHINGTON and his compatriots, still lives and burns in American hearts, and will yet consume, as a tire, the chaff and stubble of faction, revolution, secession, disunion and anarchy.

The Wheeling Daily Register
February 22, 1864

WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY.

To-day being the 22d of February, is the anniversary of the birth of GEORGE WASHINGTON, the Father of his Country,—

“First in peace, first in war,
First in heart and first in fame,
Once Columbia’s guiding star,
Now her dearest name.”

The different military companies in our city, together with the veterans troops, will have a parade during the day. At night the several fire companies of the city will have a grand torch light procession.

The Farewell Address will be read in the Legislature at ten o’clock this morning.

From present indications, we conclude that the celebration of the day will be more general than it has been for many years. So mote it be.